NEW ON NAXOS | SEPTEMBER 2022
8.206006 [6-Disc Boxed Set] Release Date: 09 Sep 2022
Villa-Lobos embracing his guitar (1950s) © Museu Villa-Lobos
Heitor VILLA-LOBOS (1887–1959) Complete String Quartets Danubius Quartet
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Key Features: •
About the Danubius Quartet The Danubius Quartet has won considerable acclaim since its founding in 1983. With the violinists Judit Tóth and Adél Miklós, violist Cecilia Bodolai and cellist Ilona Wibli, and the artistic direction of the distinguished violinist Vilmos Tátrai, the quartet won awards at Trapani, Evian and Graz in its earlier years, and has recorded for the Hungaroton label as well as this edition of the Complete String Quartets of Villa- Lobos for Marco Polo. Their performance on disc 3 was praised by Los Angeles Times commenting ‘The Danubius Quartet plays with great poise and gentle warmth.’ Heitor Villa-Lobos once confessed that he loved to write string quartets, stating ‘one could say that it is a mania’. His 17 quartets form a substantial part of his chamber music output, covering a long career that embraced national pride and musical experimentation leading to the rarefied atmosphere of the final masterpieces. Often drawing on the musical folklore of Brazil, these quartets are an outpouring of spontaneous and daring invention. Ranging from austere polyphony to compelling expressiveness and virtuosity, they represent one of the most distinctive bodies of chamber works in 20th-century music.
Villa-Lobos is best known for his orchestral works, and this Marco Polo edition of the complete String Quartets seeks to redress the balance towards his substantial chamber music output while joining our highly collectable Naxos editions of the Complete Symphonies (8.506039), and the Bachianas Brasileiras (8.557460-62). Pianist Sonia Rubinsky won a Latin GRAMMY for her recordings of the solo piano music (8.508013). • These recordings were much admired on their original appearances, with The Washington Post commented on discs 1 and 2: ‘The music is imaginative, rhythmically alert, sometimes reminiscent of Brazilian folk music and expertly performed.’ • Also available are three instalments in the critically acclaimed Music of Brazil series. The Guitar and Harmonica Concertos disc featuring the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (8.574018) received a perfect 10/10 score from ClassicsToday.com : ‘The uniformly first-rate performances…[makes] the whole disc a joy from start to finish – a true voyage of discovery and delight.’
Companion Titles – Heitor Villa-Lobos, Composer
8.506039
8.508013
8.503289
8.557460-62
8.574018
8.574310
8.574286
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